T5W - Fictional Items

Once again Top Five Wednesday has rolled around and this week the topic is irresistible. What fictional objects would you want? If you could take anything out of the stories you've read, what do you want the most? I can't wait to see what other people came up with! I did avoid the most obvious choices like a want from Harry Potter or even a magical owl from that series. Instead I tried to think a little outside the box.

1) Hermione's Beaded Handbag (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling) - Personally, I can think of a thousand things (mostly books) I would like to carry with me all the time. Plus the bag is tiny and weighs next to nothing! This would be a fabulous thing to have.

2) Celaena's Suit (Assassin's Blade and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas) - This suit just sounds amazing. Celaena can climb buildings and hide blades in this suit. I believe it is the outfit she is wearing on the front of the Queen of Shadows cover. I just want to wear it to feel badass.

3) The Crucible (The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas) - This item is a dream. In the Crucible you can insert yourself in fairytales, fight the monsters, and test your magic in different environments. Also even if you fail and die, you are ejected out of the book but you don't die. It is a little more complicated than that. However, the book sounds amazing and I would love to relive some fairytales!

4) Any of Ronan's Dream Objects - (The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater) - I tried and tried to decide on one of Ronan's dream objects I would want to pull out of the books. I just cannot choose though! The puzzlebox is amazing. Chainsaw would be an interesting pet. One of his cars would be a great and useful thing to have. I just cannot choose.

5) Inej's Climbing Slippers (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo) - Can you tell I wish I could climb things? I wish I had the skill to just scale buildings like Inej. She is an amazing stealthy climber and her slippers make her even better.

   

Last T5W --> Top Five Books Featuring Time Travel 

Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR

Normally I skip over the TBR weeks on Top Ten Tuesday because I'm more of a mood reader and I tend to ignore TBRs after I make them. However, I am excited for many things right now (many releases, many series enders and many series starters) so I thought I would throw out a TBR and hope that it sticks. Check out the Broke and the Bookish for past and future topics.

This week my top ten feels a little bit like the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Three New Releases

Six I Need to Finish:

 

One Book Club Pick:

My Last Top Ten Tuesday --->  Eight Books That Need a Score

Currently Reading - March

This month so far has been a little lackluster compared to February. I've only finished three books and I'm not on track to finish that many more. Me from this video doesn't care too much though. She is trying to push ahead and end this reading slump ASAP. We will see how that goes in the upcoming days.

Also I must return Wolf by Wolf to the library today because someone reserved it and I didn't have enough time (or willpower) to read it in my allotted time. Le sigh. I guess I'll have to return for it again some other time.

Books Mentioned:

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Wolf by Wolf by Robin Graudin

Review - The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

  

Series: The Wrath and The Dawn #1

Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale Retelling

Source: Purchased

Published - May 2015

Hardcover - 395 pgs

Add it // Buy it

Rating - 4/5

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Quick Thoughts: After finishing this I have very mixed feelings. There was a lot of hype surrounding this release, but it didn't quite live up to all the buzz. There were a lot of things I liked, but I wasn't blown away like I expected to be after so many people rated it so highly. 

Full Review: Overall, I like more than I didn't. The premise was what captured my attention in the first place and the set up to this story was well crafted. Shahrzah herself was one of the strongest parts of the novel. She was cunning and curious which drove the plot forward in ever changing ways. Personally, I thought the romance was well paced and Shahrzad's voice was believable. The inclusion of the original storytelling element was interesting and I'm excited too see if that will still be relevant in the next book. 

Many of the things I had issues with could change in book two and toward the end of the book I saw some hopeful signs that they will. The secondary characters were very flat to me. I would have like more character development from them and, in general, there could have been more world building. The magic especially needs to be fleshed out. It didn't play a direct role in many of the events in this book, but I think it will be important soon.

My biggest disappointment was I wasn't really engaged in this story until late in the book. Towards the end I became very engaged with the characters and events as they unfolded. Now I'm exited for book two, but I wasn't sure until late in the story if that would be the case.

ReReading - A Dicussion

In the past month or so I've been on a rereading kick. I've flown through series and read new books. I've refreshed my memories and relived my favorite scenes again. I've enjoyed it so much I want to convince you to try it too. Today I've thrown together a few of my thoughts about rereading and why I do it. I'd love to hear from you too about your experiences rereading and why you do or do not reread.

Happy (Re)Reading!

T5W- Top Five Books Featuring Time Travel

This week I am putting a little twist on the Top Five Wednesday topic. These are the top five books featuring time travel that I want to read! I'm not sure if Landline actually counts as time travel, but I think it is close enough. (I also really want to read it!) Please let me know if you've read any of these and which ones I should prioritize!

  

 

Happy Reading!!

My Last T5W - Top Five Book Hangovers

February Favorites (2016)

As has become tradition, it is time for Monthly Favorites! I enjoy making up this post every month and reflecting on all the things I've done and posted lately. It is a fun way to go over the products I've been using and the media I've consumed.

 

Book Favorite:

My Book Favorite was probably the hardest favorite to determine this month. I read so many books and they were all so good. I had to consider some amazing rereads and great books I read for the first time this month.

Six of Crows beat out the competition though by being the most addictive story I've read in ages. I love the characters and the world building. I can't wait to read book two!

Blog Post Favorite: 

Eight Books That I Think Need a Score-

Though the topic of Top Ten Tuesday a few weeks was about music, I put a little twist on the topic in order to feature something I had been thinking about a lot. Why do we just insist on movies and television adaptations of our favorite books? What if someone wrote a score to go along with? Doesn't that sound like fun?

Three Reasons to Read - The Accident Season

As you may have heard The Accident Season was my favorite book of 2015. It blew me away at the end of the year. Three Reasons is a series I've created where I talk about three reasons to read a book. Three great things about a book and give a short synopsis. In between a review and a discussion video but without spoilers!

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

February Book Haul

This month was a quiet book buying month. While I was tempted, like I am on the daily, to indulge I stayed strong for the most part. I did pick up a few books and my dog helped me haul one book.

Books Mentioned:

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

 Inferno by Dan Brown

A Gathering of Shadows by Victoria Schwab

Review - Secret by Brigid Kemmerer

Genre: Paranormal

Source: Purchased

Published - Kensington Teen

Paperback - 328 pgs

Add it // Buy it

Rating - 4/5

Nick Merrick is stretched to breaking point. He's trying to keep his grades sky-high or he won't get in to college. He's trying to keep his brother's business afloat or the Merricks will be out on the street. He's trying to keep the secret of where he's going in the evenings from his twin brother Gabriel - or he fears he'll lose his family. And he's trying to keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who is his 'girlfriend's' partner.

And then Quinn takes to hanging around his sworn enemy, and an Elemental Guide is counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers. Storms are brewing. On all sides.

Quick Thoughts: Throughout this series I have swooned over the romances and waited anxiously for the action sequences. It was no different this time and Kemmerer continues to astound me. I am so pleased there was just as much sexual tension and tenderness included in this book as in others. 

T5W - Top Five Book Hangovers

Everyone has experienced a book hangover I imagine. That feeling when you are completely absorbed in a world and can't stop mentally living there well after you've finished the book.OR when you've read late into the night and the next day feels like a dream rather than reality?

This week for Top Five Wednesday we are featuring the books that made us feel like that. I have a mix of both reactions. Some of these were books I couldn't pull myself out of long after I finished  the book while others I stayed up late in the night reading.

1) The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle - At the end of 2015 I was surprised and delighted by this story. I was thinking about this book for days after I finished it and relistened to parts of the audiobook over and over again. This book had me under its spell long after I finished it. The magical realism enchanted me.

2) The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater - This book blew my mind when I first read it. I was completely wrapped up in the characters and the story I couldn't stop thinking about it and could not pick up another book for a long time.

3) Clockwork Princess / City of Heavenly Fire - When I read Cassandra Clare finales I cannot read anything else for a while. They blow my mind and I love the nice neat packages Clare writes for her characters. I end up thinking about the future of the Shadowhunter world long after I finish the book.

4) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - This book! Last year I was completely wrapped up in this series. I read the book and watched the TV series right after. I was completely submerged in Claire's story and want to continue reading the series soon.

5) Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas - Upon reread Heir of Fire has put me in a bit of a reading slump. I don't know if it is from the book itself (probably) or the face I read like a madman in February. It is a toss up but I'm blaming this amazing book.

Happy Reading!

Previous Top Five Wednesdays